HBO Max sound way low

[Edd70]

Other apps on my 4th gen Apple TV sound pretty normal but, with HBO Max, we turn up our sound bar at top volume to hear everything. Anyone else having this issue?

Edit: Now that I think about it, we watched a different HBO show that was fine with volume. We’re watching Deep Blue Sea and the volume should be melting our faces. Instead, it’s maxed and I can barely hear stuff. Rebooted the app and the Apple TV and no help.

 

[JBaby]

HBO has always been too low. That’s why I was so happy when it became an tv Channel. Now we are back to low volume hell.

 

[waw74]

I've tried that movie in both my bedroom and Living room (stereo out of TV speakers, vs sonos arc with surround speakers)
they were both a little quieter than other shows normally are, but not too bad

You can try "reduce loud sounds" (pull down on the remote's trackpad while playing video)
That should boost voices a bit.

 

[bigcat318]

Old HBO app and new HBO Max app, I have always had to turn my audio receiver way higher than other streaming services to get an appropriate volume.

 

[Apple_Robert]

No problems here with HBO Max sound. Pretty good channel. I am paying $5 a month for it through the grandfathered AT&T TV Now (formerly Directv Now) “Go Big” package.

 

[Edd70]

I sent an email to HBO about the issue. I’ll update here if there’s useful info from them.

I suspect their streams have issues and they’ve decided they’re ok with it. I did some searching on the problem and there’s a lot of complaints out there so this isn’t news.

 

[mekump]

I binged watched 'The Wire' last month via the HBO Max app on the ATV4k and didn't notice any issues with sound. A couple nights ago I watched 'Midway'. The dialogue was so low that I had to turn the volume up to between -15 to -20 on my Yamaha AVR. Unfortunately that made the background sound too loud. I wasn't sure if it was just the movie, the app or something wrong with my system. Normal FIOS tv show watching I have the volume set to between -40 to -45. Hopefully @Edd70 gets a reply from HBO with some useful information.

 

[jtrenthacker]

Disney+ is low as well. I'm also having subpar A/V performance on Prime. I haven't gotten 5.1 signal from Prime for months now. I've tried re-installing Prime and resetting the ATV4. I've also tried on ATV3.

 

[Edd70]

So I’ve received no response from HBO about the issue.

I’ve also been watching The Wire recently and the sound seems ok.

 

[stoney1922]

Other apps on my 4th gen Apple TV sound pretty normal but, with HBO Max, we turn up our sound bar at top volume to hear everything. Anyone else having this issue?

Edit: Now that I think about it, we watched a different HBO show that was fine with volume. We’re watching Deep Blue Sea and the volume should be melting our faces. Instead, it’s maxed and I can barely hear stuff. Rebooted the app and the Apple TV and no help.

I’m having the same issue. I was watching Oblivion…. Changing the audio sound within the movie from “Full Dynamic Range” to “Reduce Loud Sounds” helped a bit with the dialog. But still over all lower sound than any other app.

 

[B/D]

This is particularly problematic if you use homepods. Low dialogue in HBO Max and, in Disney+, the sound feel more compressed than the rest of the apps. However, in apps that use the native tvOS player, like Infuse or Apple TV+, the sound is robust and full bodied, actually surprisingly immersive.